Damage profiles of Si (001) surface via Ar cluster beam sputtering

Abstract

Damage profiles on Si (001) surface via argon gas cluster ion beam sputtering and mono-atomic argon ion beam sputtering were investigated using medium energy ion scattering. The surface thickness damaged by Ar cluster ion beam sputtering was approximately 10 nm for 20 keV, 6.4 nm for 10 keV, and 4.2 nm for 5 keV and the composition of the implanted Ar atoms was 0.2 at% for 20 keV and 0.1 at% for both 10 and 5 keV. The surface thickness damaged by Ar ion beam sputtering was approximately 5.3 nm for 1 keV, 8.5 nm for 2 keV, and 12 nm for 3 keV and the maximum Ar concentration of the implanted Ar atoms in the Si substrate was 5.5 at% for 1 keV, 5.8 at% for 2 keV, and 7.8 at% for 3 keV. The depth of the damaged layers after Ar ion sputtering on Si (001) is proportional to the in-depth distribution of the implanted primary Ar ions. The depth of the damaged layer after the Ar cluster ion beam sputtering did not depend on the implanted Ar atoms because the implanted Ar atoms are negligible. Understanding the details about the damage process via Ar cluster ion beam sputtering can be useful for the practical surface analysis.

Applications of Ar Gas Cluster Ion Beam to Oxide Thin Films

“…Changes in surface morphology during ion beam or cluster ion beam sputtering can influence on depth profiling and the electronic structure in the surface analysis. In our previous studies [8,9], we demonstrated that Ar GCIB sputtering develop ripples and the orientation of the ripples was perpendicular to the GCIB beam direction. The ripples can be minimized by rotating samples during Ar GCIB sputtering.…”

“…The change in the electronic structure of a Ta 2 O 5 thin film during Ar GCIB sputtering was examined using in situ XPS measurements. The sample rotation mode during Ar GCIB sputtering was adopted to prevent the sample surface from ripple formation, which can be a critical factor distorting depth profiling and the electronic structure [8,9]. The rotation speed of the sample holder during Ar GCIB sputtering was fixed at 6 rpm.…”

“…The Ar GCIB sputtering is a damage-free process for organic thin films [6,7]. In our previous work, we applied GCIB sputtering to measure the damage profile on Si (100) surfaces [8]. The damage thickness was about 10 nm, 6.4 nm and 4.2 nm for 20, 10, and 5 keV Ar GCIB sputtering, respectively.…”

Electronic structures of SiO2 thin films via Ar gas cluster ion beam sputtering

“…The electronic structure of the SiO 2 thin film on the Si substrate during 15‐keV Ar GCIB sputtering was measured by using XPS and UPS. Sample rotation during Ar GCIB sputtering was adopted to prevent any ripple formation on the surface, which can be a critical factor that distorts depth profiling . Surface morphologies on sputtering were also measured via secondary electron microprobe (SEM).…”

Glutaraldehyde fixation method for single‐cell lipid analysis by time‐of‐flight secondary ion‐mass spectrometry

“…[14][15][16] In SIMS, the sample surface is sputtered with focused primary ion beam, and ejected secondary ions are analyzed in a mass spectrometer. [17] The recent introduction of cluster ions as a primary ion into SIMS by using a time-offlight (TOF) analyzer allowed softer ionization and detection of high mass molecules with high sensitivity. [18] TOF-SIMS is thus preferentially used to analyze biomolecules such as lipids in biological samples at the single-cell level.…”